"A great deal of olive-oil is sent from Palestine to other countries. It is an important article of food for the inhabitants, and takes the place of butter, and also of animal fat for cooking purposes. It is used for giving light, and is burnt in flat lamps of terra-cotta or other ware; some of the lamps are covered while others are open, and in either case there is a lip or projection at one side for the wick. In ancient times the wealthy inhabitants had lamps of silver and gold; and they are mentioned among the adornments of Solomon's Temple as having been made of the latter material. We have seen great numbers of these Eastern lamps, of terra-cotta, tin, and occasionally of brass. The lamps carried by the Ten Virgins—'five of them were wise, and five were foolish'—were undoubtedly of the exact form as those of to-day.
"So much for one of the industries of Nabulus, and of the land of the Bible generally.
"We went to the great mosque, which was once a Christian church, built by the Crusaders, and afterward belonging to the Knights of St. John. In another part of the town is the Jama-el-Kadra, a mosque which is asserted to stand on the spot where the brethren of Joseph brought his coat to Jacob. It was formerly a church, like the great mosque, and the guide pointed out some of the crosses of the Crusaders that the Moslems had not been able to obliterate altogether. Then we went to the quarter of the Samaritans, which was the most curious of all the sights of Nabulus.
"The origin of the Samaritans is described in 2 Kings xvii. 24-41, and the present sect at Nabulus is supposed to be descended from them. Two hundred years ago there were small bodies of them in Cairo, Damascus, and one or two other places, but the only one now in existence is that which we are describing.
SAMARITANS BEARING TRIBUTE—AN ASSYRIAN SCULPTURE (2 KINGS XVII. 3).
"They preserve their ancient faith and form of worship, and they have a temple on Mount Gerizim, above the town, where annually they celebrate the Feast of the Passover and eat of the Paschal lamb. They showed us a copy of the Pentateuch, which is claimed to be the oldest in existence. The high-priest who held and opened it says it was written by a grandson of Aaron. There is good reason to doubt that it is more than a thousand years old, and the case containing it belongs to the fourteenth or fifteenth century. They would not let us unroll and examine it, and so we must accept the statement of others, who have had a better opportunity, that the parchment is fifteen inches wide and from twenty to thirty yards long, and contains the whole of the first five books of the Old Testament."
There was not time to spare for the ascent of Mount Gerizim, which rises above Nabulus, and is ascended chiefly for the view from the summit. The top of the mountain is covered with ruins, and the spot is pointed out where Abraham was about to slay Isaac when his hand was stopped by divine interposition. There have been Jewish temples, Roman castles, Christian churches, and Moslem mosques on Mount Gerizim, and, as Frank states in his journal, the Samaritans go there to celebrate the Feast of the Passover, and perform other ancient rites.